Six Annandale High School students have earned a trip to compete at the Business Professionals of America 2016 National Leadership Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, May 5 to May 9.
The Annandale students competed at the Minnesota BPA Leadership Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis March 10-12.
"Annandale BPA had a solid performance at the BPA State Leadership Conference," said BPA advisor Jill Wrobbel. "Our group may be small, but we are strong in our skills. I am so proud of all of them."
Senior Jenifer Weyer took first place in Human Resource Management, Kara Condon took first place in Basic Office Systems and Procedures, and Zechariah Everett took first place in Fundamental Accounting.
Morgan Diers took second place in Fundamental Accounting and third place in Advanced Word Processing. Jacob Johnson took third place in Personal Financial Management and Zach Wrobbel finished fourth in Advanced Accounting and fifth in Payroll Accounting.
Weyer enjoys experience
Weyer was given a human resource manual that laid out the policies for a fictional company, Professional Business Associates. She was then presented with scenarios that might include violations of a dress code or harassment.
"I was given 20 minutes to prepare a speech describing what rules were broken and what disciplinary actions needed to be taken," Weyer said. "After my speech the judges asked me questions. Overall, the conference was a great experience and it was fun getting to know different BPA members from around the state."
May’s trip to Boston will be Weyer’s second competition at nationals. She also earned a trip last year to Anaheim, California.
"At nationals there will be a lot of tough competition, but I’m just going to keep doing what has been working for me," Weyer said. "There are always events going on at nationals, so it will be a busy week. I’m looking forward to not only the competition, but also to exploring the city of Boston."
What is BPA?
Business Professionals of America is the leading organization for students pursuing careers in business management, office administration, information technology and other related career fields. Nationally, BPA has 43,000 members in over 2,300 chapters in 23 states. In Minnesota there are over 1,100 members in eight regions.